Exceptional Women of the World is a podcast that highlights and celebrates the great achievements, lives and POV of amazing women throughout the world of advertising, marketing, digital, tech and creativity.

There is no question that Mira Kaddoura, founder and creative director at Red & Co. in Portland, Oregon has been surrounded by plenty of great people in her career. In fact, she counts the legendary Dan Wieden as a major influence — having spent 10 years at Wieden+Kennedy in Portland, working on some of the agency’s most important work including for Nike, Target, Coca-Cola, Travel Oregon and others.

But it's her family that she counts as major influences saying that she was surrounded by plenty of “badass women” in her native Lebanon. They were writers and fighters for rights in the 30s and 40s. Deans of universities in Lebanon and Egypt in the 50s. That foundation, along with her supportive siblings, provided a powerful foundation that she brings to her work and life today.

A major advocate of and for women, no matter the industry, Kaddoura espouses a gospel of learning how to not listen to the noise and how to find rays of sunshine and energy to find the inherent good in people and the world. With that in mind, she also feels it is important to surround yourself and devote your time to people who give and not the “energy suckers.”

A huge yoga evangelist, she also believes that working from a position of fear is incredibly counterproductive and that conforming to be perfect all the time is toxic. “Embrace who you are,” she encourages, noting that women are in charge of their lives and that being yourself can help engender creative risk, which can help get one out of being stuck.

Worldly, with many global experiences in addition to her upbringing in the Middle East, Kaddoura feels that getting to know any “other," — be it religion, culture or point of view — will not only make work more human, but create an environment of understanding that can open up an incredibly rewarding life.